If there’s one thing I have learned over the years, it’s that there are always two sides to every story.
On April 9th, a very unfortunate incident played out on United Flight 3411, the video of which has since gone viral causing a mass social media uprising with an ‘off-with-their-heads’ mentality. I mean, across the board. Fire ’em all and let the gods sort it out later.
Look, I get it. When I first saw the video I was appalled too. To say that it was inflammatory would be putting it mildly. But it was also a situation that was escalated far beyond the boundaries of necessity.
If a any law enforcement officer asks me to exit a plane, no matter how royally pissed off I am, I’m going to do it and then seek other means of legal reimbursement. True story.
Knowing what I know about airport security, I’m certainly not going to run back into a secured, federally restricted area at an airport flailing my arms and screaming like a banshee…because, you know, that just happens to be breaking a major federal Homeland Security law.
But that’s just me, obviously.
The moment I made that particular ill-advised choice, I would become an immediate and imminent threat to the aircraft’s security. That’s kind of a big deal. I mean, come on, I once actually had to remove my infant son’s socks because they mimicked little baby sneakers. These guys mean business.
I didn’t like it. I thought it was just plain stupid, honestly. But instead of pitching a massive fit, refusing to comply, and bolting through the TSA checkpoint like an out-of-control toddler, I did the big girl thing–sucked it up, removed the offensive socks, and went on with my happy life, sans being tackled and dragged through the airport in handcuffs by a bunch of big men with guns.
Because if you choose to take advantage of the services the airport provides, you play by their rules.
I know you’re all out there screaming that the ‘rules’ are unfair, but I am a pilot wife. I remember 9/11. Do you? I want my husband, the father of my children, to come home. I want you to get home. That law exists to protect my husband. And your wife. And your grandmother. And your child. And you. I, for one, am glad for the law.
I’m not here to dispute the facts of 3411 with you. I am not interested in getting into an argument of opinion with anyone. We’re all entitled to our own. I’m not arguing that what happened wasn’t completely terrible–it was, on multiple levels. But I am suggesting that the general public take another look at the situation, ask a few more questions, gather a few more facts, and then create a less hostile and more intellectually wrought opinion about what happened.
Because the media is giving you just enough information to keep you enraged–enough to keep their ratings up.
Things to consider:
1) “You can’t just kick a paying customer off the plane!” Psssst! It’s in the fine print. They can, indeed, do just that. And it’s not an airline specific rule, it’s a commercial aviation rule. Every ticket you purchase comes with a plethora of fine print–you know, the stuff we just click ‘next’ on without actually reading what we are agreeing to. Yeah, that. Well, it’s in there, and you checked the ‘I agree’ box when you purchased your ticket. You can read about it and oh-so-much-more here. Kind of makes you want to read all those tiny words on your next phone update before you click ‘I agree’, huh? You should. United did not break any law, and he agreed to the policy and possibility of involuntary bump when he bought his ticket. And so do you.
2) “Kicking a paying customer off an airplane!? I’m taking my business to Southwest!” Ummmm, okay. But just be sure you understand that every major airline, Southwest included, has a similar policy for involuntary bumping in a ‘must ride’ scenario. Don’t believe me? It’s called the contract of carriage. If you’re really bored, you can read Southwest’s here. Or Delta’s here. And on and on. This could have been any airline. In fact, it happens all the time. Most people just don’t wrestle law enforcement in the aisle.
3: “So what’s this ‘must ride’ nonsense anyway? They shouldn’t bump a paying customer for a free employee ride!” It’s actually pretty important to you as an airline traveler that they can. They were not ‘freeloading home’. That’s called non-rev and they have to wait in line behind your checkbook and often don’t make it home to their families if flights are booked (believe me, I know). No, this was a must fly, a positive space situation. In layman terms, it means that a crew must be flown to an airport to man a flight in order to avoid cancellation of said flight due to crew unavailability. The airlines are required to do so to avoid disruption of air traffic. In other words, if there are no willing volunteers and they need seats to get a crew somewhere to avoid disruption of aviation flow, they can, will, must bump people for the better good of the 1000’s. Why? Because one cancelled flight has a serious domino affect in the delicate, complicated world of connections and aviation law. This is not illegal. The only thing DOT requires in this situation is that the passenger is reimbursed his/her money.
4: “It’s the airline’s fault for not planning better!” Do some research! The airline industry is conpex. There are about a million and one things that can cause a crew shortage including but not limited to weather, maintenance, weather, connecting fight delays, weather, FAA timeout regs, and did I mention weather? I wish I could control Mother Nature because I would be one filthy rich person. But I can’t. And neither can United. So they inconvenience one, or four, to keep hundreds on track. Do the math. And of course, if we were on the other end of this thing, we’d be tirading and blowing up the internet because United didn’t bump a passenger to make sure our flight didn’t get cancelled and left hundreds stranded. Damned if you do; damned if you don’t. We’re a fickle crowd, we social media folks.
5: They shouldn’t have picked the minority Chinese doctor! It’s racist.” That’s just silly. Though federal regulation demands they involuntarily bump to prevent interruption of flights when necessary, each airline does have the leniency to determine how they choose the bumped passengers. They did not play spin the bottle or walk down the aisle looking for the Asian guy. Use your heads, people! There is a computerized algorithm that takes into account price of ticket, how long ago it was purchased, whether or not they can get the passenger to their destination in a timely manner, etc. It wasn’t an ‘Asian thing.’ Stop, people. Just stop. **added note: it has been discussed that Dr. Dao may have initially volunteered his seat and wasn’t chosen randomly at all. He then changed his mind after accepting the deal.
6: “United should go under for assaulting that passenger! Fire the entire crew!” Read the facts. United never touched the passenger. In fact, by all witness accounts, the United flight crew (layman term: pilots and flight attendants) remained calm and pleasant throughout the entire event, never laying hands on the passenger. They followed protocol as required by policy, no matter if it’s a good policy or not. Once law enforcement became involved (also as required by protocol), United stepped out of the decision-making process. They had nothing to do with the rest. The passenger was forcibly removed by aviation security (the very disturbing clip that everyone is talking about) after running back into the secured area after being escorted out once. Once he did that, like it or not, they (law enforcement) were under full discretion of the law to apply necessary force to remove the threat. I’m not saying it’s pretty, but the only one who actually broke a law was the passenger. There’s a reason for these laws–it’s called 9/11. I understand he’s npt a terrorist. I’m only explaining why these laws and policies exist. We can’t have it both ways. But by all means, let’s berate and punish an entire flight crew–in fact thousands of pilots, FA’s, gate attendents, ground crew, etc.–because it makes us all feel a little better.
7: “You piece of **it!” I get that the passengers were upset, angry, maybe even confused. I get that you are too. After all, media is tossing you out chunks of bloody meat like you’re a pack of starving wolves. But I’m seriously disgusted that the must ride crew that had to take those seats as well as aviation folks at airports around the nation after the unfortunate mess that unraveled have been verbally and physically assaulted and threatened. Can you imagine the very uncomfortable position they were in? doing their jobs to feed their families. Just. Like. You. They don’t have a choice. They didn’t ask for this. They didn’t assault anyone. They are not a corporation; they are individuals who need a job. There’s a very fine line between what you despise and becoming what you despise. Many of the comments and actions I have seen perpetrated against United employees cross it. Violence does not fix violence. Don’t become what you hate.
Like I said, I know you’re mad at United, but there’s much more to the story than hits the media fan.
I truly hope that this gives you something to chew on and gives you a smidgen more insight into the complexities of aviation. I’m not making excuses. I think there were bad decisions made on both sides. However, I am saying there are always two sides to every story. Make sure you consider them both.
Tailwinds.
***In answer to some questions: I am in no way affiliated with United Airlines. I have not been paid for this blog. My opinions are not reflective of any airline or even my husband. I write of my own volition. I never stated that United did not make serious customer service or human interaction mistakes. Of course they did! Of course they should have made adjustments before bording, offered more money, and found ways to diffuse the situation. Of course, no human should be assaulted. I called it terrible and appalling in the blog. My only intent was to explain the policy behind what happened and that they were not illegal. United (and other airlines) has scrutinized their policy and made some necessary changes since this blog was published. Those changes are not reflected above in the blog as they were not current policy at the time of event. Thanks.
***A correction to the previous article. Mr. Dao was indeed Vietnamese and not Chinese. That quote was verbatim from a comment off the internet. Also, it has come to light since this publication that the law enforcement officials were not federal. However, they are still not employed by United. I apology profusely for the confusion.
Angelia (A Pilot Wife)
Just checking, Angelia: for which airline does your husband fly?
My thoughts exactly.
United. I’d think with the PR nightmare (and multi-billion dollar losses) that United is suffering though, the wives of United pilots would be a little more intelligent about their rants … it’d be a shame for this to go viral and her husband to have to answer questions about his pilot-wifey.
yep.
Angela, United was wrong from start to finish, you know it and I know it. You sound like the officer’s wives that sometimes enlisted people had to deal with when I was in the Air Force for 20 years. Stop trying to justify the actions of United. What you need to do is just take your seat, sit down and be quiet. Excuse me, please fasten your seatbelt.
@Pilot wife. The transportation fine print mostly refers to passengers that are denied boarding, the already boarded passengers are bit of a grey area. United did NOT comply with the law as they did not give a written statement as to what was happening: DOT requires each airline to give all passengers who are bumped involuntarily a written statement describing their rights and explaining how the carrier decides who gets on an oversold flight and who doesn’t.
As the flight was already boarded United should have bumped up the compensation beyond $800, everyone has a price. And finally, Munoz’s initial statement (before all of the backlash) should have at least feigned compassion.
All of this being said, most people would not and should not act as Dr. Dao did, but even the smallest amount of research shows Dr. Dao has a track record of very poor choices.
The whole “I Know You’re Mad at United, But. . .” article currently being circulated makes sseveral good points but completely missed the underlying problem in the first place: that airlines knowingly overbook flights and are allowed to do so under special accommodations which is glossed over as contracts of carriage. This practice is slightly more profitable (i.e., to pay volunteers when more then the predicted amount of booked passengers do show up) then it is to run flights that are not at full capacity. But, I think it is completely ludicrous that this is allowed and is standard practice to knowingly overbook flights. And ocassionaly you have a passenger that gets completely screwed by it. I do agree that said passenger should always comply with authorities and crew (less they wish to run afoul of federal law). And this passenger did not comply, thus the result we all witnessed. However, the officers in question as well as the airline could use a little training in de-escalation techniques. And this has nothing to do with 9/11 protections, give me a break. Really, unecessary to cite 9/11 in this case.
What difference does it make?
I get all of that. I do. And I know once a passenger refuses to do as the flight crew tells them, it’s a security issue and they must be removed. But it was still horribly mishandled. If they had done this before boarding, that would have been better. If they had offered $1,000 — I’m guessing that would have been the magic number that would have netted more volunteers — they could have avoided it. But instead they made mistake after mistake and then botched the apology. That is the issue. It isn’t that they overbooked or that they bumped someone involuntarily. That happens all the time. It isn’t that they routinely overbook — it’s a business and they are in it to make money. It’s the way it was all done. It’s that afterward they tried saying the passenger was belligerent. Airline passengers will turn on each other in an instant. But this guy seemed to have fellow passengers on his side so his belligerence must not have been too egregious up to that point.
As with most things, it’s not what you do it’s how you do it that causes the biggest problem.
Undoubtedly, many things could have been handled differently from beginning to end.
You referred to the flight crew as “United” in your article. They were actually Republic Airlines crew.
Like you doing something with your life instead of cuntily blogging about how you fucked a pilot so you are now authority about anything that happens on an airplane.
I think someone wrote this for her or assisted her with it. This is a poorly written spin job.
This is what I’ve been saying too! I am a frequent flier, on a different airline, and I know all that was written in this blog. I have a problem with the way the gate agent handled this. They should have upped the amount from $800 and probably would have had volunteers at $1000 and this should have happened at the gate not after boarding. I find it hard to believe that the gate agent didn’t know about the crew needing seats before boarding the plane. And then the CEO did not handle this well and really pissed off more people with is tone deaf response and then with the message to employees. The procedure for handling this situation needs to be reviewed and changed so that gate agents have more leeway for what is offered to get volunteers.
Well done note and totLly agree there are always multiple oov for everybsitch, especially the ones that spiral out of control. Best book on this is brownings The Ring. Ual will take hit though and dies deserve it because management handled the subsequnet pr mess terribly, confirming every bias people hold towards the flying processlost 911 and ual in particular though. Staff seem more stressed in general than even passengers these days and this shows up often in needlessly charged simple interactions. Bad customer service skills start from the top.
The guy was definitely not cooperating or he wouldn’t had to have been drug off the plane. The other three walked off so your conclusion is invalid.
No one was on his side, they whipped out their cameras and jumped to conclusions. I did not see one person stand up and defend him. I only heard one woman scream what are you doing? But no one stood up.
You wanted the oyher passengers to take on Airline Security? Right. That would have ended well. SMH.
LOL B.S.. YOU MIGHT AS WELL KICK EVERYONE OUT THE DANG PLANE and fill if up with United officials.. Pills wife?? Your husband a pilot?? Something must be wrong with eight him off you after reading this and still posting it. I am a PIOLT my self and if I was the commands of this aircraft I don’t care if the passenger was right of wrong as long as he DOES NOT POSE ANY THREAT TO THE SAFETY OF THE AIRCRAFT, THEN FIGURE OUT ANOTHER FREAKING WAY TO RESOLVE THE SITUATION AT HAND. NO CAPTAIN SHOULD EVER ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN TO HAPPEN ON HIS AIRCRAFT, AT LEAST NEVER IN THIS MANNER.. BULLSHIT.. YOUR HEART IS MADE OF STONE, MS. PILOTS WIFE MY FOOT
If your poorly written comments are any indication of you, can you please let us all know what airline you are currently employed by? You as a captain of anything more than the commode in your home bathroom is a frightening thought. Thanks
They need to just stop overbooking, problem solved..
Why didn’t one of the compassionate passengers, perhaps one of the people so outraged by the choice of a minority, give up his or her seat so the doctor could remain on board?
Angelia, how is it that you can so quickly justify the use of violant force to enforce a business contract? And then make comparisons to NON COMPLIANCE at a security check point? What was done was wrong, simple as that, don’t try to justify it.
I am a pilot for 38 years at one of the orher, I’m terribly embarrassed and this should never happen, people have rights and that means being treated like humans.
Next time.
Ladies and gentlemen we cannot get enough voluntary and involuntary passengers to deplane, therefor this flight is cancelled. ( Or the other flight is cancelled) You will receive a full refund and be scheduled on the next available flight, we sincerely apologize blah blah blah…
But for the sake of being a human, don’t beat a person into leaving their seat.
I doubt they had mich of an oppurtunity once security stormrd the plane.
That’s what my wife said, too. That lady seemed so upset. She could have given up her seat.
Telling someone they must leave a flight without presenting him with his rights (at the time of denied boarding) is where United messed up. They handled the entire scenario incorrectly. You don’t board a plane and then ask someone to leave. How about you don’t overbook your flights in case a scenario such as this occurs? Leave 4 empty seats for crew emergencies. In reference to children, you don’t take your two year old to the park, place them on the swing, them immediately remove them and not expect a fit because you have broken your word. I will say this. Using 9/11 as a reason to deny flight to a person who is not a terror suspect is unacceptable. Airline employees abuse their role as a result of it. The man wanted to go home. Who reads the rules of carriage when you buy a ticket? No one. So provide the rules of carriage when you are asking for volunteers and explain to everyone their options when before you do. Don’t barter. Say something like “we will compensate you with a $1000 flight voucher which is the max we can offer and fly you first class on the next available flight. If there are no volunteers we will randomly select 4 people because if the flight crew doesn’t make it to xyz, several other flights will be cancelled.” I bet if the entire plane realized that not getting the crew on the flight was going to create a major air travel problem, people would have volunteered. It’s called communication and people will help when given the facts and the opportunity. I know me and my family would have. But that’s who we are.
Great points all around! One minor point, the flight wasn’t overbooked. United walked back that claim almost immediately.
Apparently you didn’t understand the article and live in a world where everything goes as planned without at hitch. You WOULD forcibly remove your child from the swing earlier than anticipated if you had a time sensitive situation that required you to be in another place. Besides, the company is not responsible to reiterate their fine print if it was previously provided to a customer at the time of the purchase. Try to compare the situation to our own workplace and if you can’t, maybe you won’t ever understand.
Please. Are you really defending their actions? And actually it’s the LAW for them to provide you with your rights at the time of the involuntary removal. Please do sole research before ranting erroneous information.
I’m sure the judge who presides over the impending settlement will totally understand that “the company is not responsible” … I’m sure he will just slam his gavel and call the whole thing off …. LOFL
Or perhaps I did understand the article and I choose to look at the original problem that started all of that day in motion, rather then deflect! Perhaps you didn’t understand the article. Oh, it couldn’t be that, could it? Lol! I’m glad I was raised to have a heart and human decency.
You don’t think they announced that? I wasn’t there so I don’t know for sure, but I have been on many flights with this same situation. They don’t just say “you need to get off”, they do explain why.
Correct!
Great reply Jen Jones, you said all what I wanted to say.
Leave 4 empty seats on every flight? Yeah that’s brilliant, you truly have a realistic view of this.
So it’s the airline’s responsibility to spoon feed it’s contract, terms, and conditions when they’re there when you buy the ticket? Saying “who reads the rules of carriage when you buy a ticket” is not a valid excuse not to know them. It is the passenger’s responsibility to read them when they click on “agree.”
With that said, I’ve never once read them, but I accept that there are terms and conditions of my journey that I am unaware of but to which I am still bound.
The system is broken and the cost to Dr. Dao in terms of his personal privacy is priceless. Unfortunately, the system is not set up to be to the customer’s favor. It’s about the airline making the most profit and to heck with the flying public. Whatever the price or incentive that United had to offer to get enough volunteers to fly their crew members would have been small in comparison to the antipathy and angst they caused.
Federal law, which the writer keeps mentioning, states that anyone involuntarily bumped has to sign a document and that this has to happen before boarding. This is where the problem is. Bumping a passenger is supposed to happen prior to boarding. Once the passenger is seated, the seat is his.
There’s no way they would leave 4 empty seats just in case.. that would be so much revenue lost for a situation that probably doesn’t occur very often.
This is pretty unrealistic.
You also misread the point on 9/11. The author isn’t using that as a reason to select this particular man or deny flights in general, but demonstrating that because of 9/11 we are all required to follow security procedures that this man did not by apparently running into a secure area. It’s not airline employees abusing their power, it’s federal law and it applies to anyone.
Again I say, the other 3 walked off the plane. Is he better then them? He chose to be a child and he paid for it.
The flight wasn’t overbooked. It was fully booked. Compensation was offered. Not enough took them up on it so people were randomly selected. It was communicated. If you don’t read the rules of carriage that’s on you. The flight crew should not be expected to go through them again when bumping you. Like Angela stated, the airline is required to comply with federal laws which they did.
Exactly, and United could have offered far more than they did to get volunteers. The standard is up to $1350, but Delta has been known to pay up to $11,000 for a family of 3.
The brutality of the way they handled it is inexcusable and the stock value alone has been very hurtful to United, let alone the bad PR.
as a gate agent my first thought was why did they wait till after boarding was complete till they showed up. if they came from another flight them someone should have called them and confirmed that they were coming. positive space crew are no shows all the time because they jump seat on earlier flights. many of them show up at the last minute and expect the world to revolve around them. they have till the last minute to show up. and have no courtesy or professionalism to the agent working and expect them to just get pax of the plane quickly so they can get on. it in the contract that they get a real seat. i understand that. but them waiting till the last second to show up why didn’t they suck it up and take the jump seat for the short flight and keep the flight from taking a two hour delay. they could have helped the situation. but chose to do nothing and make the thief coworkers have a very bad situation. very very unprofessional. very very egotistical.
Valuable insight into this issue, Thank you.
They can’t take the jumpseat on a must ride. It affects their duty time . They would then be unable to fly the flight they are going to save.
I don’t know which airline you are familiar with, but with the one I work for as a flight attendant, this is untrue. It is common for crew members to ride on an extra jumpseat when the flight is full. In fact, some prefer to ride the jumpseat even if there are seats. It is also common for pilots to ride jumpseat in the flight station on a different airline that they are employed with. It has nothing to do with duty time.
That particular aircraft does not have extra jump seats.
THIS! I’ve been telling people – gate agents DO NOT typically board more people than the plane could fly. This came down to a fail between gate and flight crew (and possibly the deadheads) that should NEVER have wound up being resolved on the plane. It was just crazy.
Whether the gate agents passed the buck (I’ve seen it, and it sucks for crews, but it happens), or the deadheads left them no choices, if the plane is boarded, and ready to go, why are you deplaning people? Suck it up, deadheads, that you waited until the absolute last minute.
Susan, yes there are some crew members that can be inconsiderate showing up to the gate last minute. However we don’t know if that is the case here. Also last minute or not, you know you have to get that crew in position so they are a priority. Don’t give the seat away. As a gate agent typically your concern is getting the flight out on time and that’s it. How about calling your supervisors and getting it handled before you fully board a plane. This way you’re not snatching a seat from a customer that thinks they’re going home. Gate agents are very quick to say “Suck it up and take a jump seat” because you guys work your daily hours and go home. Especially in inclement weather a crew can work an 18hr day, be given minimum rest (8-9hrs) which in actuality is less because the clock starts 15mins after the plane lands and gets to the gate. They still have to deplane and get to their hotel which sometimes can be 30mins-1hr. Then they have to show up to the airport hours later so they can be flown to another city so they can work a 12-18hr day. So that “short flight” their looking to close their eyes for every second that they can. Because they need to bright eyed and bushy tailed to take care of several planes full of customers. Unfortunately no matter the reason working or not, if you’re on that jumpseat and get caught sleeping you’re FIRED!!!! So please don’t be so quick to say “suck it up and take the jumpseat”. As a crew member I expect you to have more understanding for your fellow crew.
You should know that a lot of those commuter jets do not have jump seats. Especially 4 of them.
Happy to hear from someone that works in the industry and isn’t just married to someone. We had that issue in the Army….”Do you know who my husband is????” Fact is, the law may have been on their side, but morally they were wrong.
I agree 200%! As a Flight Attendant it’s all about TEAMWORK & COMMUNICATION. Situations like this affects all of us (gate agents, crewmembers, dispatchers, scheduling, baggage handlers, customer service, etc….) CRM (Crew Resource Management). Live by it!!!!